VIA CRUCIS - in neuem musikalischem Arrangement

In the organizer's words:

On November 15, 2025, the chamber choir Cantamo Köln will perform Franz Liszt's "Via crucis" in a new version for choir and instrumental accompaniment at the Melanchthonkirche in Cologne-Zollstock.

Although Franz Liszt's "Via crucis" is an unusual piece of Passion music, it is often performed due to its forcefulness and sometimes overwhelming beauty. Franz Liszt takes listeners on an associative journey of meditation through the fourteen stations of the cross. The musical events are at once indissolubly enigmatic and immediately plausible - and thus fascinatingly modern.

Liszt originally composed Via crucis for choir and organ, but quickly added further versions for choir and piano, piano solo and organ solo - all with basically the same tonal material, but each with its own unique charm and effect.

The chamber choir CANTAMO Köln is now taking a decisive step further along the path laid out by Liszt: choirmaster Jonas Dickopf and jazz pianist Lukas Roth have developed an arrangement for choir, synthesizer, bass, cello and percussion which, loyal to the spirit of Liszt's original text, gives the altered instrumentation the necessary freedom to make the poignant emotions of Via Crucis even more intensely perceptible - a highly exciting undertaking for Via Crucis lovers and first-time listeners alike.

The program is rounded off with atmospheric motets by Arvo Pärt, Eleanor Daley and Carlo Gesualdo.

(The concert is sponsored by the Landesmusikrat NRW).